


Holding Out For A Hero

by MercyBuckets



Series: Mercy's Shadowhunters AU Mondays [6]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Background Isabelle Lightwood/Maia Roberts, Background Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Background Simon Lewis/Jace Wayland, F/F, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Izzy is a superhero, Jace is a good brother, M/M, Simon picked out the code names, dubious coping mechanisms, implied depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-03 01:39:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10957023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercyBuckets/pseuds/MercyBuckets
Summary: ‘Is that ...?’ asks Lydia.‘It better fucking not be,’ says Alec.’It is,’ says Raj. ‘I’d recognize that ass anywhere.’





	Holding Out For A Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all. I'm wildly busy with finals and I still haven't finished last week's Shadowhunters AU Monday prompt but I've been waiting for superhero week so ... here we are. 
> 
> Izzy's superhero alter ego is loosely inspired by Kate Bishop to whom the 'being a superhero is great' quote at the end belongs to.

Alec Lightwood stares at the picture on the screen in mute disbelief.

‘Is that ...?’ asks Lydia.

‘It better fucking not be,’ says Alec.

’It is,’ says Raj. ‘I’d recognize that ass anywhere.’

Alec and Lydia both turn to glare at him.

‘What, you know I’m right,’ he says. ‘Lydia, admit it.’

Lydia shrugs and makes a sheepish affirmative grunt. When Alec gives her a betrayed look she says, ‘Oh come on, Alec. He’s not wrong.’

‘Can we please focus on the real issue here,’ says Alec.

‘Yeah, what was she thinking going with light purple spandex?’ says Raj. ‘It shows stains and it’s doing nothing for her image.’

Lydia punches his arm.

‘My sister is on some sort of misguided vigilante crusade and you want to talk about her _fashion_ choices?’ says Alec slamming his hands down on the table.

‘Every group needs a designated asshole,' says Raj. ‘See if you can talk her into leather.’

* * *

 

As much as Alec wants to march home and shake his sister until she comes to her senses, he knows that’s not the best way to go about this. No, if he wants to get the truth, he needs to go after the weakest link when it comes to secret keeping, so he heads straight to Java Jace

There’s a line when he gets there but Alec isn’t about to wait so he stalks to the counter, grabs Simon’s arm and says, ‘I need to borrow the cashier. Speak amongst yourselves.’

‘Alec,’ says Simon with a nervous smile— which doesn’t mean anything because Simon looks nervous 95% of the time— ‘You know I’m working right?’

‘Purple spandex,’ says Alec.

Simon blanches. ‘I don’t ... I mean ... what? Isn’t that a question for your boyfriend, the fashion plate?’

‘Is that your final answer?’ growls Alec turning up the big brother menace.

Simon wavers but before he can break and spill everything Jace strides out from the back looking pissed off.

‘It is 11:30 and there is no one on register, why?’ he snaps and then, seeing Alec, adds, ‘And why are you manhandling my boyfriend. You have your own.’

‘Spandex,’ whispers Simon.

Jace’s face goes suspiciously blank and Alec whirls on him.

‘You knew!’ he yells.

Everyone in the cafe is staring at them.

Let’s take this to the back,’ says Jace. ‘Simon get the register please— 10% off coffees for the next half hour people— nothing to see here!’

‘Aww, 10% off and Clary’s still on break, it’s gonna be like the seagulls from Finding Nemo out there,’ says Simon momentarily forgetting about the pissed off Alec between him and his boyfriend. ‘Mine! Mine! Mine!’

‘You got this babe,’ says Jace reaching around Alec to give Simon an awkwardly placed pat on the shoulder. ‘If I don’t come out in an hour, Alec killed me and you should send Clary to avenge me.’

* * *

 

‘She needs this Alec,’ says Jace before Alec can say anything. Alec opens his mouth to tell Jace all the ways that that’s total bullshit but Jace doesn’t give him the chance. ‘She’s not being stupid. She’s not being suicidally reckless. Alec, it’s like she’s _alive_ again!’

The look on Jace’s face stops Alec in his tracks. ‘Go on,’ he says not betraying anything with his expression.

‘When was the last time she left the house without being dragged out?’ asks Jace.

Alec frowns. ‘Since before the a-accident.’

‘Last week she came to Simon’s concert and she danced with a certain literature loving bartender we know,’ says Jace. ‘I’m telling you Alec, this has been good for her.’

‘Last week?’ says Alec, ‘How long has this been going on for?’

Jace winces. ‘Don’t freak out, but about a month.’

‘A fucking _month_ , Jace!’ shouts Alec. ‘You’re my brother! I can’t believe you kept this from me!’

‘I’m her brother too, bro,’ says Jace and Alec wants to kill him a little bit.

‘How long have you known?’ demands Alec.

‘Since almost the beginning,’ admits Jace. ‘I caught her sneaking in all scraped up and I threatened to beat the shit out of Meliorn if she didn’t tell me who did it. Turns out she fell while trying to scale a fence and once she admitted that, the whole thing came out.’

‘I can’t ... Jace this is fucking dangerous,’ says Alec. ‘How could you let her do this?’

‘I know you’ve been busy and I’m not blaming you man, but you haven’t seen her lately. If you had, you’d understand. Besides we both know that no one _lets_ Izzy do anything.’

‘I have to put a stop to this. _We_ have to put a stop to this,’ says Alec. ‘She's going to ...’

 _Going to get herself killed_ , he can’t finish.

Jace shakes his head. ‘Just give me one night to change your mind,’ he says. ‘If you still feel the same after that, I won’t try to stop you.’

Alec is pretty sure Jace is lying about not trying to stop him but it’ll be easier if they’re together on this so he finds himself agreeing. ‘One night,’ he says.

Jace reaches out and takes his hand. ‘That’s all I need.’

* * *

 

Alec spends the rest of the afternoon ignoring all of his co-workers including Lydia and Raj until five when he heads back to Java Jace like a man on a mission. He sits at the corner table sipping a latte and giving Simon the evil eye from across the room until closing.

At one point he overhears Clary say, ‘Come on Si, it’s not like he’s going to kill you for trying to make her safer.’

Simon glances anxiously in Alec’s direction. ‘Keep your voice down,’ he hisses. ‘He doesn’t know I’m actually involved.’

When the cafe _finally_ closes, Jace comes out and beckons Alec over to the counter.

‘You’re going to stay with Si,’ he says to Alec.

‘I’m what?’ says Alec.

‘He’s what?’ says Simon at the same time.

‘We can’t risk Izzy finding out he’s here,’ says Jace firmly.

Clary nods in agreement.

‘Clary will be on radio duty with you guys after she finishes her class and I’ll be on getaway,’ says Jace. ‘Everyone good with that?’

‘Do you need me to skip?’ asks Clary. Alec gets the feeling she might be doing it because of him. ‘It’s not a big deal.’

‘We’ve got this,’ says Jace. ‘Iz would kick your ass anyway.’

Clary nods, grabs her bag, and heads out.

Jace kisses Simon on his way out and Alec feels a little bad for cornering his brother’s boyfriend earlier, knowing how happy Simon makes Jace. Not bad enough to apologize for it though.

‘This isn’t how we wanted you to find out you know,’ says Simon leading Alec through the back to what Alec had thought was a closet but is apparently some weird tech room. ‘How did you find out actually?’

‘News article in my ethics class,’ says Alec. ‘So you mean to say you were going to tell me but you guys never got around to it?’ He can’t keep the bitterness out of his voice.

‘Not exactly,’ admits Simon. ‘But this isn’t how it should have gone.’

Alec isn’t sure what to say to that.

‘You can sit here until Clary gets in,’ says Simon waving his arm at a chair that barely comes up to Alec’s knees— he forgets how short she is sometimes. ‘You have to stay quiet when I’m on with Izzy so she doesn’t hear you.’

Alec sits down on the chair, which sinks another few inches under his weight and leaves his knees pressed almost to his chest. ‘What’s the—’

Simon shakes his head and Alec notices that the other boy is holding what looks like a walkie talkie. ‘Shadow do you read me?’

‘Loud and clear Q,’ Izzy’s voice crackles over the walkie, filling the room. Alec is struck by how _good_ she sounds. Jace is right. She sounds _alive_.

‘Bond is your getaway driver tonight,’ says Simon ‘And Ivy will be on radio when she’s done with class.’

‘What have you got for me?’ asks Izzy.

‘You feeling up to some running?’ asks Simon. ‘There’s a robbery in progress on 6th and Elm.’

‘Time to put the fear of the angel’s into ‘em,’ says Izzy and Alec can hear that she’s already running. ‘Catch you on the flipside, Shadow out.’

‘Robbery,’ says Alec pointedly.

‘She’s got body armor,’ says Simon. ‘And she probably won’t have to engage anyway. She dealt with this group a few weeks ago and they still have bruises.’

* * *

 

For the next three hours, Alec listens to Simon tell his sister where to find trouble. Clary joins them about an hour in, dissolving into giggles when she sees Alec crunched into her chair. She drags a chair from the cafe in for him and wedges it in next to hers.

When Izzy mentions a gun, she’s the one who keeps Alec in place with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

‘She’s got this,’ Clary says. ‘Promise. We’ve got her back.’

Izzy apparently disarms the man without breaking a sweat which should make Alec feel better except that she mentions an ‘incident on 8th’ that makes Simon and Clary both freeze.

‘Let’s just say that’s why we have a getaway driver,’ says Simon.

‘And there’s a reason why it’s usually Jace,’ adds Clary. ‘He’s not going to leave her out there without back-up.’

Eventually Simon says, ‘Shadow, I think that’s it for the night. See you at Merlin’s?’

‘I might need a shower after that last guy,’ says Izzy. ‘He was a creep and I deserve a prize for only taking one nut-shot.’

‘I’ll drink to that,’ says Clary. ‘See you in twenty Shadow.’

‘Who’s Merlin?’ asks Alec.

‘I think you might recognize him,’ says Clary. ‘Don’t worry, He doesn’t know.’

* * *

 

Jace meets them on the corner with the car and when they pull up to Pandemonium, Alec understands why Clary made a point that Merlin was in the dark. Jace not saying anything is hard enough to swallow but if Magnus had known ...

Clary drags Simon off, supposedly to go dancing but probably to give Jace and Alec some privacy. She's good like that.

‘Guns?’ says Alec the second Clary and Simon are out of earshot.

‘I never said it wasn’t dangerous,’ admits Jace not meeting Alec’s eyes. ‘There was an ... incident a couple weeks back. Had to get my hands dirty. That’s when I started staying close by with the car.’

Jace feels responsible for whatever happened and even though a part of Alec wants to say that he should, a bigger part of him knows that Jace is right, Izzy won’t stop just because someone tells her to.

‘You were right about her,’ he says quietly. ‘She sounded better,  _good_ even.’

‘I know,’ says Jace with a small sad smile. ‘It’s like a part of her is—’

‘Being a superhero is great,’ says Izzy appearing out of nowhere and wrapping her arms around Jace tightly. ‘Everyone should try it!’

Jace hugs her back and clears his throat, ‘Look who joined us tonight!’

Izzy falters for a just split second before throwing herself at Alec. ‘I missed you,’ she says into his neck.

‘Me too,’ says Alec pulling her close. ‘You seem better, happier.’

‘I am,’ says Izzy. ‘I’ve ... figured some things out since you were last home.’

‘I’m glad,’ says Alec.

‘I’ll drink to that,’ says Jace. ‘If you would Iz, I think someone’s been waiting for you.’

Izzy’s face lights up and she makes a beeline for the bar where Maia is mixing drinks. Alec watches as his sister flirts with the bartender and he knows that Jace was right. This superhero bullshit has been good for her. Alec sighs, slaps Jace’s back companionably and goes to see if Magnus is in his office.

He is.

‘Alexander,’ I wasn’t expecting you,’ he says looking up.

‘Jace dragged me here,’ says Alec. ‘Magnus can I ask you something?’

‘Always,’ says Magnus pressing a kiss to Alec’s lips.

‘What do you think of purple spandex?’

‘Are you talking about the superhero from that news website?’ asks Magnus. ‘Why do you ask?’

Alec fights to keep his expression bland. ‘Raj didn’t like her outfit.’

‘Well I hate to agree with him,’ says Magnus. ‘But that jumpsuit is an atrocity. Light purple? The girl needs a stylist. The saving grace is there isn’t a cape.’

‘Never change,’ says Alec.

* * *

 

A week later Izzy finds a package on her bed. She carefully opens it and inside is a dark purple jumpsuit with black leather accents. The spandex is thick and expensive looking and she knows that if she tries it on it’ll fit perfectly. Inside is a typed note that reads, ‘For Shadow, may you keep our streets safe in style.’ She smiles and pulls out her phone to text Jace. She wasn’t planning on going out but her plans just changed. She has a new suit to break in.


End file.
